Yeah, I believe it.
But the darnedest thing is, we don’t really have much in the way of official monthly records for the Kitsap area. There are records from surrounding stations we can compare our numbers to, however. According to Scott Sistek’s Weather Blog, Forks, Hoquiam and Olympia all had their 3rd coldest March on record:
| QUILLAYUTE | HOQUIAM | OLYMPIA |
| 1. 39.3 (1971) | 1. 39.8 (1971) | 1. 38.9 (1955) |
| 2. 39.9 (1976) | 2. 40.0 (1955) | 2. 39.9 (1971) |
| 3. 40.3 (2009) | 3. 41.6 (2009 AND 76) | 3. 40.2 (2009 AND 76) |
Seattle had their 8th coldest March, their 1st coldest in 1955 with an average temperature of 39.1º. How about Bremerton? The airport keeps the temperature records here and this is what I have:
MARCH 2009 DAILY AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE (Bremerton): 46.4º—6.9º below average
MARCH 2009 AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE (Bremerton): 32.0º—5.0º below average
MARCH 2009 OVERALL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE (Bremerton): 39.2º–5.9º below average
I wouldn’t doubt areas closer to the Hood Canal
were colder, it’s just that Bremerton is the only “official”
temperature station we have. So comparing that to the records of
Forks, Hoquiam, Olympia and Seattle we are definitely in the top 3
if not the very top for the coldest March on record…well, if we had
records 🙂
But I have some great news! My mom always jokes that the nice weather comes out when she’s not here to enjoy it, and she’s going to Utah this weekend to visit my sister in college. You know what that means…we’re bringing out spring!
Forecasting models have been advertising some mild and sunny weather over the weekend that could overlap into next week. This means sunshine (or at least partial sunshine) with highs approaching 60 or beyond.
Maybe that March chill will pay off? 🙂
Matthew Leach
Forecasting Kitsap
7 DAY FORECAST
